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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Interview & Giveaway - Before He Was Famous by Becky Wicks

Before He Was Famous

by Becky
Wicks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Falling
in love with your best friend isn’t always a great idea, especially when he’s
Noah Lockton - the sexiest, most famous new talent on the planet. When
21-year-old small-town photographer Chloe Campbell is offered the chance of a
lifetime – to join her celebrity childhood friend Noah on tour as an exclusive
blogger for a New York magazine – she’s certain both have put what happened
four years ago behind them. But his eyes still burn; his voice is still a
jackhammer to her heartstrings; all his songs are about her. Is it possible
that that night still haunts them both?

The
music industry is a machine, spinning hype and rumors as much as his records.
It’s not just Noah’s girlfriends who’ve got it in for Chloe (there’s no
stopping the Twitter-obsessed, cat-loving pop-star Courtney Lentini for
starters). Pretty soon, the jealousy and media frenzy surrounding these
so-called-friends takes a life-changing turn and it seems making love means
making enemies at every turn. When tragedy threatens to pull the final curtain
on their relationship, both Chloe and Noah must make a choice. As much as this
world leaves them starstruck, is living their dream really worth living without
each other?

A
story of lifelong friendships, love and hope, set in a world of celebrity, fame
and social media gone very, very wrong.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt:

Noah. Chapter 21

I study her face; the gashes, the bruises darkening her
skin. I reach for her Tinker-Bell necklace, run my fingers over the tiny silver
wings. Our eyes meet and I don't look away and neither does Chloe.

I get another flashback, from out of nowhere, of when we
were kids at aunt Madeline's house in The Bronx. A huge thunderstorm kept us up
in the middle of the night and I crept into her room to find her lying there,
eyes wide open, raindrops thrashing at the huge brown-house windows. I knew she
was waiting for me to arrive because without me she was too scared to get out
of that bed. That house is so old and creaky. We switched places without
speaking and she started trying to capture the lightning with her camera.

She spent more than an hour in the window, working silently,
determined, clicking the camera over and over. Something about her was
mesmerizing. I watched her from the bed and wrote a song in my head about how
she lit up every time the lightning struck, and when she climbed in beside me
she was wriggling under my skin as much as the covers. Chloe became the
lightning then, for me at least, lighting up every room. And so began the storm
in my head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let's learn a little about Becky Wicks:

What is your writing
environment?

Well,
for the past few years I’ve mostly been working from Indonesia. I kind of call
Gili Trawangan my second home, which is an island off the coast of Lombok. It’s
full of lovely spots to sit and write, like comfy cushions and tree houses, but
I also love Ubud in Bali. It’s amazing where you can get WIFI these days,
right? Although I try and turn that off and focus as much as possible! Too much
Facebook doesn’t make for too many chapters getting written!

Who is your perfect hero and why?

My
heroes are people who follow their dreams, who don’t follow the crowd, who
march to the beat of their own drum. I think it’s possible to have many heroes
but at the end of the day, when we’re talking men, looks and muscly arms (while
very, very nice) aren’t as important as having, or being around people with a
happy, positive mental outlook. Of course, Ryan Gosling is perfect, too, but
that goes without saying, right? (ahem).

What authors have caught your interest
lately and why?

I’m a
huuuuge John Green fan. I also really admire Colleen Hoover and everything
she’s done, not just with her writing, which is always awesome, but with her
engagement with fans and her marketing, too. That is all so important these
days. Sarah Alderson is pretty fantastic – I read everything she writes. I
actually know her as we met in Bali but her dedication to her craft and her
sheer talent and persistence never cease to amaze me. I read Hunting Lila
several years ago and was hooked, but her new adult romance Come Back To Me
(out this summer) is amazing. It made me cry buckets! You must read it.

What type of book have you always wanted to write?

I’ve
always loved the idea of friends turning into lovers, so something like Chloe
and Noah’s story was always on my agenda to bring to life. I just want to write
words that make people feel something – whether that’s happiness, heartache,
hope… it’s all emotion, it’s all real and it’s all changing someone’s day. I’d
like to write for a bigger cause, to help bring light to important issues
someday. I’m always thinking about how I might do that, if I’m lucky enough to
gain an audience that will listen!

Top 3 things on your bucket list?

Marriage,
kids, and a trip to Antarctica! Maybe not all in the same month.

How did you get the idea for this
particular novel?

The whole best friends becoming
lovers thing was always something I liked, and I was writing scenes from this
book for a while before I put it all together. It was when I came up with the
fame twist that it really came to life. I wanted to show a behind the scenes
take on fame and how it really might affect someone’s relationships. We know
too much about people these days, there’s no privacy and that must be a very
scary thing for some ‘celebrities’.

What is your favorite scene in your new
release?

The
cabin scene, when they’re shooting the music video in Vail. I think that’s my
absolute fave – there’s so much tension and paranoia, and hopefully suspense. I
really had to put myself in Chloe’s shoes for that. How would you feel knowing
what you’ve always wanted is yours for the taking, but also knowing that having
it would put you on the brink of something so totally life changing and
terrifying?

What are you working on now and when can
we expect it to be available?
Right now I’m writing book two in the HotFlush series, based around Chloe’s
friend Alyssa and her own struggles with fame. This one is slightly different –
it’s set on an island around a game show very similar to Survivor and it features
a brand new, irresistibly gorgeous man with a few secrets of his own. It will
hopefully be out in August 2014.

What do you like to do when you are not
writing?

I love
singing and playing my guitar (although I’m not great at it!), chatting rubbish
with my friends and also scuba diving and pilates. I find scuba diving so
relaxing, it’s almost like sleeping, but some of my biggest ideas for stories
often come when I’m down there with the fish in the sea!

What would you consider a perfect date?

Ooooh,
aside from Ryan Gosling building me a house? I think a brilliant chat on the
same wavelength about anything and everything – one where time flies and you
have no concept of having to be anywhere else. Red wine, a heap of cheese and a
movie is also nice, but laughter is the key. If a guy can make me laugh, I’m
his.

What is one interesting fact about you that readers don’t know?

I know
all the words to the Wicked musical, and Idina Menzel is probably my favorite
singer in the world!

**Becky’s
three travel memoirs about her time in Dubai (Burqalicious), Bali (Balilicious)
and South America (Latinalicious) are on Amazon as ebooks now (HarperCollins).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Becky Wicks is a HarperCollins author going indie! Itchy feet has
led her to live and work all over the world since leaving England at age 21,
including NYC, Sydney, Bali, South America and Dubai. Right now she’s
scribbling the second book in the HotFlush series in Vietnam, and will soon be
in Vancouver if any hot Canadian men want to make her a cup of tea?

Becky has also written three funny travel books about her time in
Dubai, Bali and South America (HarperCollins). Her first book, Burqalicious -
The Dubai Diaries, her second book, Balilicious - The Bali Diaries and her
third, Latinalicious -The South America Diaries are out now as ebooks.

Becky has also written a comedy romance with author Sarah Alderson
under the name Lola Salt, called The Extraordinary Life of Lara Craft (not
Croft) which should raise a giggle or two... think Bridget Jones if Jackie
Collins had written it!

Becky will be awarding an eCopy of Before He
Was Famous to a randomly drawn commenter at each stop during the tour. A
Grand Prize of an eCopy of Before He Was Famous, as well as a print copy of
Latinalicious, Becky's last travel memoir (HarperCollins) to a randomly drawn
commenter during the tour. (International winner).The more you comment, the greater your chances of winning!Follow the tour HERE